TORCH report
Encyclopedia
The TORCH report was requested by the European Greens in 2006, for the twentieth anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster
, in reply to the 2006 report of the Chernobyl Forum
which was criticized by some advocacy organizations opposed to nuclear energy
such as Greenpeace
.
In 2006, German Green
Member of the European Parliament
Rebecca Harms
, commissioned two British
scientists to write an alternate report (TORCH, The Other Report on Chernobyl) in response to the 2006 Chernobyl Forum
report, which was prepared by over a hundred of experts of a number of UN agencies including the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), the World Health Organization
(WHO), the United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP) and other UN bodies, as well as the Governments of Belarus
, Russia
and Ukraine
.
ing but 4 kBq/m² of Cs-137 only gives an external gamma dose of 56 μSv
per year (which is close to nothing, a 1 in 356000 chance of death due to cancer). The internal dose will depend greatly on the diet of the person and the degree to which simple countermeasures such as Prussian blue
are used in animal farming. .
To sum these properties up
Note that 4 kBq/m² is the minimum level which is considered by the TORCH report. The TORCH report does not consider contamination under that threshold, but contamination levels between 4 and 40 kBq/m², which are ignored by the Forum's report. The lower limit for 137Cs which the authors of the TORCH report used is exceptionally low, all soil contains radioactive isotopes which are natural, the most important of these is 40K. For example a randomly chosen soil, From the Trinity test
site, has about 1000 Bq kg-1 of radioactivity. which results in a square meter of soil having about 100 KBq in the top 10 cm. It is important to note that radioactivity is present everywhere (and has been since the formation of the earth).
According to the IAEA, one kilogram of soil typically contains the following amounts of the following three natural radioisotopes 370 Bq 40K (typical range 100-700 Bq), 25 Bq 226Ra (typical range 10-50 Bq), 25 Bq 238U (typical range 10-50 Bq) and 25 Bq 232Th (typical range 7-50 Bq)..
Quoting the report, Nature
wrote that: "it is well known that radiation can damage genes and chromosomes"; "the relationship between genetic changes and the development of future disease is complex and the relevance of such damage to future risk is often unclear. On the other hand, a number of recent studies have examined genetic damage in those exposed to radiation from the Chernobyl accident. Studies in Belarus have suggested a twofold increase in the germline minisatellite mutation rate".
Chernobyl disaster
The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine , which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow...
, in reply to the 2006 report of the Chernobyl Forum
Chernobyl Forum
The Chernobyl Forum is the name of a group of UN agencies, founded on 3–5 February 2003 at the IAEA Headquarters in Vienna, to scientifically assess the health effects and environmental consequences of the Chernobyl accident and to issue factual, authoritative reports on its environmental...
which was criticized by some advocacy organizations opposed to nuclear energy
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
such as Greenpeace
Greenpeace
Greenpeace is a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over forty countries and with an international coordinating body in Amsterdam, The Netherlands...
.
In 2006, German Green
Alliance '90/The Greens
Alliance '90/The Greens is a green political party in Germany, formed from the merger of the German Green Party and Alliance 90 in 1993. Its leaders are Claudia Roth and Cem Özdemir...
Member of the European Parliament
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
Rebecca Harms
Rebecca Harms
Rebecca Harms is a German politician and Member of the European Parliament for Alliance '90/The Greens, part of the European Greens. In July 2009 she was elected as co-president of the The Greens–European Free Alliance group in the European parliament.Harms began her career as an apprentice...
, commissioned two British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
scientists to write an alternate report (TORCH, The Other Report on Chernobyl) in response to the 2006 Chernobyl Forum
Chernobyl Forum
The Chernobyl Forum is the name of a group of UN agencies, founded on 3–5 February 2003 at the IAEA Headquarters in Vienna, to scientifically assess the health effects and environmental consequences of the Chernobyl accident and to issue factual, authoritative reports on its environmental...
report, which was prepared by over a hundred of experts of a number of UN agencies including the International Atomic Energy Agency
International Atomic Energy Agency
The International Atomic Energy Agency is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. The IAEA was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957...
(IAEA), the World Health Organization
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations that acts as a coordinating authority on international public health. Established on 7 April 1948, with headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, the agency inherited the mandate and resources of its predecessor, the Health...
(WHO), the United Nations Development Programme
United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme is the United Nations' global development network. It advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP operates in 177 countries, working with nations on their own solutions to...
(UNDP) and other UN bodies, as well as the Governments of Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
.
Contamination range
The TORCH Report stated that:"In terms of their surface areas, Belarus (22% of its land area) and Austria (13%) were most affected by higher levels of contamination. Other countries were seriously affected; for example, more than 5% of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden were contaminated to high levels (> 40,000 Bq/m² caesium-137). More than 80% of Moldova, the European part of Turkey, Slovenia, Switzerland, Austria and the Slovak Republic were contaminated to lower levels (> 4000 Bq/m² caesium-137). And 44% of Germany and 34% of the UK were similarly affected."
Caesium
The IAEA/WHO and UNSCEAR considered areas with exposure greater than 40 kBq/m²; the TORCH report also included areas contaminated with more than 4000 Bq/m² of Cs-137. The TORCH report might be alarmAlarm
An alarm device or system of alarm devices gives an audible or visual alarm signal about a problem or condition.Alarm devices include:* burglar alarms, designed to warn of burglaries; this is often a silent alarm: the police or guards are warned without indication to the burglar, which increases...
ing but 4 kBq/m² of Cs-137 only gives an external gamma dose of 56 μSv
SV
-Geography:* El Salvador, ISO 3166-1 country code* Schuylkill Valley, a school district in Pennsylvania, United States* Sierra Vista, a small city in the South-Eastern corner of Arizona, United States* South Vietnam* Silicon Valley-Organizations:...
per year (which is close to nothing, a 1 in 356000 chance of death due to cancer). The internal dose will depend greatly on the diet of the person and the degree to which simple countermeasures such as Prussian blue
Prussian blue
Prussian blue is a dark blue pigment with the idealized formula Fe718. Another name for the color Prussian blue is Berlin blue or, in painting, Parisian blue. Turnbull's blue is the same substance but is made from different reagents....
are used in animal farming. .
To sum these properties up
- The dose rate due to external irradiation from uniform contamination of the ground by 137Cs is 1.6 x 10-12 Sv hr-1 Bq-1 m2.
- The internal dose for ingestion is 1.2 x 10-8 Sv Bq-1
- The internal dose for inhalation is 8.7 x 10-9 Sv Bq-1
Note that 4 kBq/m² is the minimum level which is considered by the TORCH report. The TORCH report does not consider contamination under that threshold, but contamination levels between 4 and 40 kBq/m², which are ignored by the Forum's report. The lower limit for 137Cs which the authors of the TORCH report used is exceptionally low, all soil contains radioactive isotopes which are natural, the most important of these is 40K. For example a randomly chosen soil, From the Trinity test
Trinity test
Trinity was the code name of the first test of a nuclear weapon. This test was conducted by the United States Army on July 16, 1945, in the Jornada del Muerto desert about 35 miles southeast of Socorro, New Mexico, at the new White Sands Proving Ground, which incorporated the Alamogordo Bombing...
site, has about 1000 Bq kg-1 of radioactivity. which results in a square meter of soil having about 100 KBq in the top 10 cm. It is important to note that radioactivity is present everywhere (and has been since the formation of the earth).
According to the IAEA, one kilogram of soil typically contains the following amounts of the following three natural radioisotopes 370 Bq 40K (typical range 100-700 Bq), 25 Bq 226Ra (typical range 10-50 Bq), 25 Bq 238U (typical range 10-50 Bq) and 25 Bq 232Th (typical range 7-50 Bq)..
Iodine and thyroid effects
The TORCH 2006 report "estimated that more than half the iodine-131 from Chernobyl [which increases the risk of thyroid cancer] was deposited outside the former Soviet Union. Possible increases in thyroid cancer have been reported in the Czech Republic and the UK, but more research is needed to evaluate thyroid cancer incidences in Western Europe". It predicted about 30,000 to 60,000 excess cancer deaths and warned that predictions of excess cancer deaths strongly depend on the risk factor used; and predicted excess cases of thyroid cancer range between 18,000 and 66,000 in Belarus alone depending on the risk projection modelHealth effects other than cancer
The TORCH report also stated that "two non-cancer effects, cataract induction and cardiovascular diseases, are well documented with clear evidence of a Chernobyl connection."Quoting the report, Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
wrote that: "it is well known that radiation can damage genes and chromosomes"; "the relationship between genetic changes and the development of future disease is complex and the relevance of such damage to future risk is often unclear. On the other hand, a number of recent studies have examined genetic damage in those exposed to radiation from the Chernobyl accident. Studies in Belarus have suggested a twofold increase in the germline minisatellite mutation rate".
See also
- Chernobyl disasterChernobyl disasterThe Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine , which was under the direct jurisdiction of the central authorities in Moscow...
- Chernobyl disaster effectsChernobyl disaster effectsThe Chernobyl disaster triggered the release of substantial amounts of radiation into the atmosphere in the form of both particulate and gaseous radioisotopes. It is the most significant unintentional release of radiation into the environment to date...
- List of Chernobyl-related articles
- Nuclear power debateNuclear power debateThe nuclear power debate is about the controversy which has surrounded the deployment and use of nuclear fission reactors to generate electricity from nuclear fuel for civilian purposes...